It’s hard to imagine the UA as a campus with ample parking, few women and panty raids from balconies. But in 1962, the student body of roughly 16,000 had far less diversity, gender differences and athletics.
Our current student body composition is a major change from the white, predominantly male years of the ‘60s. My grandaddy rarely saw women or minorities in his college career. His freshman class of 12,000 students was then an all-time high, but few of his classmates were women.
The enrollment in my freshman year of college — in 2010 — was also a record setting number, and the numbers have only increased since. Out of the 39,236 students enrolled in 2011, there were 1,778 more women than men. There were roughly 12,800 minority students the same year.
Student demographics have drastically changed, but I guess some things stay the same. Like my grandaddy, I too have encountered people wearing their pajamas, except it happens every day. It’s a little weird, but most people just assume the student woke up late and don’t think twice about it.
Back then it was quite the point of gossip in my grandaddy’s 7:40 am accounting class. I have a feeling that if 7:40 am classes even existed any more there would be a lot more than just one girl wearing her PJs.
The greatest change in student dress is demonstrated by what people used to wear to football games. Contrary to 2012’s dress code of chopped up T-shirts and casually exposed bandeau bras, students used to actually dress up for games in dresses, heels, coats and ties. Classy, but I wonder if the blazing September heat made students wish they could wear a simple Zona-Zoo t-shirt. But regardless of what we wear 50 years later, football games are still a social highlight.
Other social highlights of 1962 were a bit more questionable. If 100 boys showed up tonight at an all-girls dorm and proceeded to enter via a ladder, UAPD would be called in an instant with some serious citations to hand out. But if the girls reacted like they did in 1962, the boys would be showered with an assortment of panties.
I don’t see that going so well with the authorities. However, it’s not all that different than a well-known frat going door to door in my freshman year dorm asking for panty donations for their “panty party.”
It’s hard to imagine, but our parents and grandparents used to be a little wild, too. No matter who your family is, remember this weekend that even with a 50-year difference, you can still find plenty to relate to.
— Hollie Dowdle is a journalism junior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions .
